Passenger windows in most commercial aircraft are relatively small in size. This is due, in part, to the limited capabilities of current transparent window materials and also due to the heavy and complex support structure needed to support these windows within the frame of the aircraft. Such windows are typically double pane windows. The two panes are required to provide the needed damage tolerance due to the notch sensitivity of transparent plastics.
Typically, these transparent window materials consist of a transparent polymer. While very successful and exhibiting such useful qualities as high durability and easy formation of complex shapes, these polymer windows do have a limited strength capability.
Conventional windows also require heavy support structure in order to support the window within the structural skin of the aircraft. This support structure generally includes window forgings, and stringers. Each component is designed to strengthen the skin panel which surrounds and supports the window. However, each component added in turn increases the cost and weight of the completed window assembly, thereby providing an incentive to keep passenger windows relatively small. The need for including two panes when forming the window also adds to the overall weight of the aircraft, which in turn reduces the payload that the aircraft can carry, or alternatively requires greater fuel consumption for the aircraft.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to decrease the weight of current passenger window assemblies in modern aircraft. It would also be highly desirable to be able to form a single pane window having sufficient strength for use in commercial aircraft applications. Still further, it would be desirable to produce a single pane window that has sufficient structural strength, and is sufficiently light in weight, to provide a significantly increased viewing area over present day windows used on commercial aircraft. It would also be desirable to form a single pane window for use on commercial aircraft, in which the optically transparent area of the window has sufficient strength to function as a load bearing portion of the fuselage of the aircraft.